Showing results for "Oliver Sacks" in Biographies & Memoirs

Oliver Sacks died in August 2015 at his home in Greenwich Village, surrounded by his close friends and family. He was 82. He spent his final days doing what he loved: playing the piano, swimming, enjoying smoked salmon - and writing. As Dr Sacks looked back over his long, adventurous life his final thoughts were of gratitude. In a series of remarkable, beautifully written and uplifting meditations, in Gratitude Dr Sacks reflects on and gives thanks for a life well lived and expresses his thoughts on growing old, facing terminal cancer and reaching the end.

An impassioned, tender and joyous memoir by the author of Musicophilia and The Man Who Mistook His Wife for a Hat. When Oliver Sacks was twelve years old, a perceptive schoolmaster wrote in his report: 'Sacks will go far, if he does not go too far'. It is now abundantly clear that Sacks has never stopped going. From its opening pages on his youthful obsession with motorcycles and speed, On the Move is infused with his restless energy.

In Uncle Tungsten, Oliver Sacks evokes, with warmth and wit, his upbringing in wartime England. He tells of the large science-steeped family who fostered his early fascination with chemistry. There follow his years at boarding school where, though unhappy, he developed the intellectual curiosity that would shape his later life. And we hear of his return to London, an emotionally bereft 10-year-old who found solace in his passion for learning. Uncle Tungsten radiates all the delight and wonder of a boy’s adventures and is an unforgettable portrait of an extraordinary young mind.

When Susan Barry first wrote to Oliver Sacks, she never expected a response, let alone the deep friendship that blossomed over ten years of letters. Sue, herself a neuroscientist, wrote to share an extraordinary development in her own medical history. Born with problems with her vision, Sue had been told she would never acquire the ability to see in 3D - and yet she did, a development at odds with decades of research. Within days, Oliver replied, "Your letter fills me with amazement and admiration."

To the world, he was Dr. Sacks, the brilliant neurologist behind bestselling books like Musicophilia and The Man Who Mistook His Wife for a Hat. To professor Susan Barry, he became Dear Oliver—her mentor, friend, and confidant over the course of their ten-year correspondence.

Una serie di casi clinici che ha lo stesso fascino delle Mille e una notte. Con straordinaria empatia e umanità, Sacks racconta le strane storie di pazienti neurologici che hanno perduto un pezzo della loro vita o una parte costitutiva del sé. Come il musicista che carezza distrattamente gli idranti credendo che siano teste di bambini. O il marinaio che è convinto di vivere nel 1945. Il viaggio di un nuotatore "in acque sconosciute, dove può accadere di dover capovolgere le solite considerazioni, dove la malattia può essere benessere e la normalità malattia."

Hear neurologist Oliver Sacks and rock critic Ken Tucker on this edition of Fresh Air. Oliver Sacks' new book is Musicophilia: Tales of Music and the Brain. It's a series of case histories that examine the relationship of music and the mind. Sacks has written eleven books; the most famous are Awakenings, which was made into a film starring Robert DeNiro and Robin Williams, and The Man Who Mistook His Wife for a Hat.

20世紀初頭に大流行した脳炎の後遺症で、言葉や感情、体の自由が奪われてしまった患者が、奇跡の新薬L-DOPAの投与によって目覚める。しかし体の機能回復に加え、人格まで変貌してしまうという怖い副作用が……。

人間の脳が生みだす驚くべき世界　〔見てしまう人びと〕宙を舞うハンカチ、15センチの小人、失った手足の感覚。現実には存在しないものを知覚する「幻覚」。